Israeli forces today uprooted dozens of olive trees belonging to Bardala village in the northern Jordan Valley, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Ziad Sawafta, head of Bardala village council, told WAFA that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer into the village, and destroyed some 85 olive trees belonging to three Palestinian farmers.

Israeli occupation forces stormed the village of Bardala and uprooted olive trees in the northern Jordan Valley, shortly before.#Palestine #Act4Palestine pic.twitter.com/tZ73fvRByF

— The Inside Palestine (@TheInsidePal) June 24, 2020

The Jordan Valley covers an area of about 1.6 million dunams (1,600 km2) and constitutes around 30 percent of the total occupied West Bank. According to a previous government report, the Valley includes about 280,000 dunams of arable land, 50,000 of which are still used by Palestinians and 27,000 by illegal Jewish settlers.

The majority of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli military control, despite being within the West Bank. Meanwhile, at least 44 percent of the total land in the Jordan Valley has been reappropriated by Israeli forces for military purposes and training exercises.

Israel has announced that it would illegally annex the highly strategic Jordan Valley on July 1.

(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)